MUCH has been made of Phillip Schofield’s mass ‘coming out’ to the nation on Friday, but in the woke safe space of Britain… is it really brave?
As a gay man who came out in high-school in the mid-2000s, I don’t think his big ‘coming out’ on national television with wall-to-wall media coverage is brave.
People don’t care anymore. They love you for being real. Phillip has led a lie for years, including a big lie to his wife and children.
When I started High School in the un-woke Britain of 2004, the country was a world away from the Gay-friendly nation it is now.
I was bullied horrendously in school due to rumours about my sexuality. I’d often bunk of school due to the bullying I faced, whilst watching Phil and Fern on This Morning.
I had the feelings that I wasn’t normal, the feelings of being an outcast. Simply due to my sexuality and at the same time I was watching a man on TV who seemed normal… but maybe if he had found the courage to ‘come out’ back in 2004 or even earlier, me and millions of others like me would have felt a little better about our sexualities.
I eventually came out a few years later in Year 9. I found the courage to be who I was. It was emotional and scary. Millions of others like me didn’t have the support of a gay-friendly world.
I found that most of the ‘bullies’ didn’t much care about my sexuality once I took away their power and owned who I was. After that, I found peace and pride like never before.
Whilst I wish Phillip and his family well, it’s important to note that people in Britain just don’t care anymore, but that’s thanks to the brave pioneers who came out back when it wasn’t cool, to appear in the spotlight when attitudes still needed to be changed.
The pioneers who I find brave are the men and women who marched in the 60s, 70s and 80s when being gay was frowned upon, the men and women who found abuse and stigma due to AIDS.
The brave ones are the revolutionary writers on soaps such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale who introduced characters like Todd and Aaron Dingle in the mid-2000s, the producers of shows like Big Brother who cast gay housemates such as Brian Dowling and made Britain accept us for the fabulous fucks we are.
Britian just isn’t bothered about sexuality anymore, people are gay, and Britain is over it.